The Order of Lazarus
Even more than the ghouls (or undead or zombies, or other epithets the populace used during the war) the members of the Order of Lazarus were the most dangerous to the survivors of the Rise. A fringe group that traced it’s origins to before the new Millennium, it survived and not only thrived in the chaos of the Rise, but become a danger to the very survival of the human race. Since the Order itself kept few records, choosing to reject most technology, its origins are lost to us. The Order of Lazarus is believed to have begun in either the upper mid-west or the northeast of the United States. Some historians believe it was part of the survivalist craze of the 1980’s, but survivors of various groups, many of whom eventually sided with the Enclaves, claim this isn’t true, that they rejected the Order and its message of life through death. Only one name can be securely attached to its birth. Lazarus. Killed in the early days of the uprising by helicopter gunships, his body devoured by what his own beliefs called ‘The Blessed’, between his death and the massive loss of records during the war, little to no evidence of him remains. What started this travesty of a religion isn’t important any more. What is important is that among the Order’s espoused goals were to bring down whatever society it was, like a tick, nestled in. Growing slowly through the last decades of the 20th century, it was in these years before the new century that the Order began to be noticed. While on the outside they were seen to be benevolent, running soup kitchens, giving succor to the homeless, building cheap housing; on the inside, they were passing their message of hate to those most eager to listen; the outcasts of society. However, when one joined, the reasons they became outcast, drug and alcohol addictions, thievery, rape, were not tolerated among the Order itself. Those habits were either burned out, or the member disappeared. The Lazarites preached a love of death, the overthrow of all governments across the globe. Their message was one of anarchy. In the west, until the Rise, their message went barely noticed by the mainstream world, while in the east, Order members were martyred by Islamic and the few Communist regimes that survived the fall of the Soviet Union. How they were able to survive among and ally themselves with the dead was not discovered for years. When it was, it was one of the tide turning events of the war, nearly as important as the rediscovery of Keystone. When, in the first year of the Rise, they revealed their true colors, they would finally be declared outlaws, first by Presidential, then by a United Nations (one of the last of that organization’s acts, as the organization fell apart not long into the Rise, various countries preferring to attempt to save their own citizens, rather than listen to anything further from the UN) decree. It was then that the Order, stronger than any knew, took their rebellion to the streets, doing what they could to disrupt rescue efforts, leading the ghouls to survivors, going to war against the rest of humanity. It may never be known how many survivors were given to the dead, how many needed supplies were destroyed in their actions. The war was long and bloody, with little quarter given on either side. Lazarites swore not to be taken alive, while Enclavers would rather die that submit to the tender ministrations of their enemy. A decade after the war ended, cells of Lazarites were still being encountered. It would be three decades before they and the last of the ghouls were finally eradicated. The Order of Lazarus remains a horrible piece in the most hideous war in human history.